This prompt asks these provocative questions.
- What is truth?
- Is truth absolute or is it nuanced?
- Does our personal experience impact our idea of what is true?
- Why does it seem everyone’s version of the truth is somewhat different?
- Do you always tell the truth?
- Who do you trust to tell you the truth?
Here are my answers:
1. Truth is something we know or have come to know that cannot be reduced or modified. It’s like the least common denominator in math. Something basic like the elements that make up the universe. Truth can be questioned but neither yields to criticism nor is it pliable. It often is simply too elusive to find. That’s why we are more often pursuing it rather than finding it.
2. Truth wouldn’t be truth unless it is regarded as absolute. Quasi-truth or half-truth are oxymorons. They aren’t meant to be literally taken seriously but convey a message we use as a figure of speech.
3. Truth never changes but how people understand it can vary according to their frames of reference. A cherry pie is a cherry pie no matter if you like the taste or even whether you cannot see it. The cherry pie is constant (the truth) and opinion and viewpoints cannot change it although some people often think they do. The “truth is” they’re wrong.
4. Any ‘version’ of truth is considered an opinion. The common new phrase of “My truth” is also an oxymoron. No one ‘owns’ Truth. They ether recognize it or not. ‘My truth’ is a narcissistic term that suggests someone’s ‘opinion’ or ‘experiences’ can be imposed on others as “a truth” and is thusly above question or criticism.
5. No. I’m sometimes not even sure if I know the “truth”. I believe that we all discern who gets the “truth” and how much of it we are willing to offer him or her because most people “can’t handle the truth”. Opinions and instincts are sufficient guides anyway as long as we never convince ourselves that they are “truths”.
6. I don’t even trust my dog to be truthful once he learns how easily people can be manipulated. My answer is no one. A whole cloth of Truth (every twist and turn) simply takes too long to convey and isn’t really necessary in most cases. The result or bottom-line is all we really need, and the details are just clues used to validate it.
Yet, I do trust some people’s ‘half-truths’ more than others. 😉
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